VMU admits training control gaps: some respondents said they had not even attended training

After a journalistic investigation by the portal 15min.lt into possible fictitious training of farmers and an investigation launched by the law enforcement, Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) has completed an internal inspection of the Academy of Agriculture.

The university's commission found deficiencies in the supervision and administration of the training projects, and some of the interviewed participants confirmed that they had not participated in all the trainings or had not participated in them at all. The university announces that it is suspending the training, changing its monitoring procedures and promising disciplinary consequences for the staff responsible.

Lists of participants raised concerns

The commission set up by the Rector of the VMU, Prof. Dr. Ineta Dabašinskienė, evaluated three training projects carried out at the Academy of Agriculture.

According to the university, the study found that the supervision of the training projects was insufficient and the documentation was negligent. The most serious concern for the commission was the veracity of the lists of participants in the training courses.

„Interviews with a random sample of those on the lists showed that some had not attended all the training sessions, while others confirmed that they had not attended," the university said in a statement.

This is one of the most significant public disclosures to date in this story. Until now, the focus has been on the allegations and the actions taken by law enforcement, but now the university itself admits that it has found inconsistencies between the documents and the information provided by the individuals interviewed.

Project managers were not involved in the training

The Commission also found that project managers or other project administrators were not physically present at the contact training. This fact stands out in particular in the overall context.

We recall that Agrobite.lt previously published information from the NMA that, until this spring, the monitoring of trainings was mainly based on attendance registers, lists of participants and on-the-spot checks of part of the events.

Only after the scandal were additional requirements introduced to film training, record participants and allow real-time monitoring of training.

A study by the VMU shows that even within the university, there was no continuous supervision of projects.

University admits: controls did not work

Dr. Rytis Pakrosnis, the chairman of the Internal Investigation Commission and Vice-Rector for Studies at VMU, says the main problem was a lack of control.

„There was insufficient supervision when organising training. Lack of monitoring and control led to discrepancies in documentation," he said.

The university rector has taken an even stricter view of the situation.

„The findings of this study are a serious signal that internal control systems have failed at certain points“, – said I. Dabashinskienė.

Such statements essentially imply that the university is not admitting to an isolated administrative error, but to systemic problems in supervision.

Training suspended, disciplinary consequences to follow

VDU announces that training for farmers is currently suspended.

University revises project administration rules and strengthens controls. From now on, project administration team leaders will have to be personally present at contact training sessions and physically ensure the accuracy of participant registration.

It has also been announced that disciplinary sanctions against the staff responsible will be decided in the near future.

Vigilijus Jukna was dismissed as Chancellor of the Academy of Agriculture by a decision of the Council of the VMU, prior to the publication of the findings of the internal investigation. The head of a project was also removed from her post.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office and the FNTT are currently continuing a pre-trial investigation into possible document forgery and credit fraud in the organisation of training for farmers.

The investigation refers to almost €400,000 of aid already received and more than €188,000 of aid allegedly attempted. As previously announced by the NMA, all payments under the measure "Training and acquisition of skills" have now been suspended, and not only the projects linked to this story, but also all the promoters of this measure are being checked.